


Closer To Heaven

by Mizmak



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Romance, Sentimental, Short & Sweet, metaphysical union
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22666537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizmak/pseuds/Mizmak
Summary: Aziraphale takes Crowley on a short hike to a special place for a rather special reason.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	Closer To Heaven

“A hike.” Crowley wasn’t entirely sure he’d heard correctly. “You want _me_ to go on a hike.”

“Only a short one.” Aziraphale had miraculously produced two walking staffs. He held one out. “To the top of the hill and back. It’s not that steep – the trail winds up at a gentle incline. I imagine even _you_ can get to the summit in half an hour.”

“Oh, really?” Now he was being provoked, and he knew it. Half an hour – one way? That was an entire hour of traipsing about in the great outdoors. _Gah_.

Aziraphale stood there, in the middle of their living room in the South Downs cottage they had acquired a month earlier. He smiled in that ever-so-hopeful way that he did, and added the raised eyebrows that he used to silently say, _Please do this for me, Oh please please please?_

“It’s nice out, my dear. The sun is shining, and it’s warm.” He handed Crowley one of the staffs.

He took hold of it, frowning. “I don’t _hike_ , Angel. This is for whacking people over the head with.”

“Which you don’t do, either.” Aziraphale headed for the front door. ‘Come along, then.”

Crowley sighed. “Must I?”

“Yes.” Aziraphale picked up a large cloth satchel with a long strap sitting by the door and handed it to him. “You can carry the victuals.”

“Oh, I can, can I?” He slung it over one shoulder. “What did you put in here – a load of bricks?”

“Too heavy for you, is it?”

“Shut it.” He snapped his fingers, performing a little demonic miracle that shrank anything inside the satchel to a tenth its normal size. “Not heavy at all.”

Then he followed his dearest friend who drove him mildly nuts out of the cottage.

A public footpath lined with hedges led through the fields that stretched from their cottage to the base of the hill. A nice, flat footpath. Crowley like flat paths.

It took only a quarter hour, though to reach the hiking trail that wound upward in a series of switchbacks. He didn’t like upward paths.

Aziraphale, however, was clearly in a fine mood – happily thrusting his walking stick forward with each step as he led the way, humming off and on in a non-melodic fashion when he wasn’t busy commenting on how lovely everything was.

The puffy little white clouds were lovely. The variegated grass of the fields was lovely. The hedgerows were lovely. The little birds that hopped away from them as they approached were downright bloody annoyingly precious and lovely.

Crowley sighed. He liked to see his angel happy. Which meant that he couldn’t complain about being outdoors. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate nature now and then. Thunderstorms were nice – especially ones with huge lightning bolts that tore apart the heavens. Good stuff. 

Beaches were fine, so long as he remembered to miracle on a pair of sandals first. He also enjoyed their walks through St. James’ Park back in London. They were nice and short and flat, for one thing.

But now he was faced with a _hill_. Not a very high hill, admittedly. But a hill all the same. One that required an effort. He didn’t really like making an effort.

“What a lovely hill.” Aziraphale gazed up at the summit. 

Crowley looked at the trail, devoid of anyone as far as he could see. “If it’s such a wonderful hill, why aren’t there any people climbing up the darned thing?”

“Hm.” Aziraphale scratched his head, then he brightened. “Ah. Today is a weekday. I imagine most humans are at their places of employment.”

“Oh, yeah. _Work_. That thing we don’t do anymore.” He liked being retired. “Six thousand years, and I didn’t even get a gold watch.”

“Indeed. Rather remiss of them.” Aziraphale took a deep breath. “Shall we?” He set off with a bold stride.

“Right.” _I am hiking_. 

_Hell._

Though after the first few minutes of their ascent, Crowley had to admit that it was a very gentle climb, barely even registering as _uphill_. The walking staff provided a certain rhythm to his movement, subtly helping to counteract his natural saunter for a more efficient gait.

And the sun did warm his whole body, a sensation he basked in. 

When they made the first switchback turn, he glanced back to see their progress, and was surprised to see how far they’d come. The fields below looked so much smaller, and far in the distance he could make out their cottage – like a toy version of a house.

“Hey, Angel.” He came to a halt, and so did Aziraphale. “You can see our home from here.” 

“Why, yes. It’s quite—“

Crowley held up his hand. “If you’re about to say ‘lovely’, _don’t_.”

Aziraphale pouted. “Well, really.”

He couldn’t resist the pout. “Sorry, Angel.”

“It _is_ lovely. Are you enjoying this even just a _little_ bit?”

“Maybe. We’ll see. Go on then.”

They continued up the next section of the trail, and it didn’t take all that long to reach the halfway point, where the path turned again. They paused there to take in the view, and Crowley rather liked seeing the direct evidence of how much progress they had made.

Though the hillside itself didn’t have much of interest – mostly grass with a few stubby bushes dotted in clumps here and there. A decidedly ordinary sort of hill, but he supposed it could be considered _their_ hill, since it stood so close to their cottage.

They soon reached the final turn of the last switchback, leading to the summit. There had been no other hikers on this trail, though he had caught sight of a few people hiking up the next hill over – far enough away to barely be noticeable. Crowley preferred to have _their_ hill devoid of interlopers. He wondered if there wasn’t something he could do to ensure their privacy.

“Ah, here we are.” Aziraphale rested his hands on top of his staff. “We made it.”

Crowley came to a stop beside him. He gazed across the small, level expanse of grass. “So this is it?” Not much to see. Then he looked round at the views on all sides – their miniscule cottage, the sliver of a road, the tiny hedgerows. More hills on the other side, stretching off into the horizon, with _lovely_ , fluffy white clouds above.

And warmth. The sun felt even warmer up here. He strolled in a circle around the summit, taking in the expansive landscapes beyond.

He heard fingers snap behind him, and turned to see Aziraphale standing in the center of the summit, with a tartan blanket miraculously spread on the grass. “Lunch?”

Crowley brought over the satchel and snapped the provisions back to their normal, and much heavier, size. 

They sat close together, and he watched Aziraphale pull out crackers and cheese, two sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper, a tin of chocolate biscuits, plates and napkins. Last came two bottles of ginger beer.

“What, no alcohol?”

Aziraphale smiled. “I may have altered the contents slightly.” He handed over a bottle.

“Good thinking.”

They ate quietly – or rather, Aziraphale ate while Crowley watched, though he did take a few bites here and there, and he drank all of his fortified ginger beer. 

Then they lay back on the blanket side by side, hands behind their heads, looking up at the clouds drifting past.

“Dragon,” Crowley said, pointing at one. “At least, the head of one.”

“I think it looks more like a bear.”

“Nonsense. Definitely reptilian. Oh, and that one is clearly a turtle.”

“Footstool.”

“Turtle.”

Aziraphale pointed to a larger cloud. “I suppose you think that’s a giant snake?”

“Nah. That’s a garden hose.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I won’t if you won’t.” Crowley turned to look at him, and brushed a hand down the angel’s cheek. “This is – well, I hate to say it, but this is _nicer_ than I anticipated.”

“I’m glad.” Aziraphale took Crowley’s hand and kissed it.

Crowley took his hand back and leaned over to kiss him properly, on the lips, and although they had plenty of practice with this, he found the caress of his angel’s lips against his own to be just as intoxicating as the first time.

_Lovely_ , in fact.

He turned onto his side and wrapped an arm around Aziraphale .

“My dear, we _are_ in a public place.”

“Nobody is around.” Crowley smiled. “And I don’t think anyone _will_ come up here today.”

“Did you _do_ something?”

“Possibly.” He stopped Aziraphale’s questions with a longer, deeper kiss, and another. Then he deftly unbuttoned the angel’s vest and shirt and slid a hand in to stroke his chest in slow circles.

Aziraphale made rather satisfying murmurs, and wrapped an arm around his back to massage the taut muscles there.

Crowley sighed in contentment as his muscles loosened. Such a relaxing embrace…such a peaceful place. Not such a bad idea after all, to come up here away from everything.

After some time, Aziraphale pulled away to roll onto his back again. “I would like to ask you something…something important.”

Crowley settled onto his back as well, gazing at the sky. “You know you can say anything to me.”

Aziraphale took hold of his hand. “I wanted to come here for a rather special reason. I wanted us to be in a natural place. I want to be closer to the heavens – not _Heaven_ , but closer to the skies – to a heavenly place.”

He had Crowley’s full attention, his curiosity sparked. “A place only for us? Why?”

“Yes.” Aziraphale tightened his hold. “I’m quite certain – although it has been far too long for either of us – that you remember what it means for spiritual beings to love as one.”

Crowley nodded. A wave of pure affection quivered through him. “I do know.”

In Heaven, when angels wished to express a love for one another, they did so in an extraordinary way. They left off bodily forms and mingled their spiritual essences together, without barriers of any kind, easier than air with air in a pure and unrestrained union. 

Crowley had never thought he would experience that ecstasy with Aziraphale – as he feared what might happen between an angel and a demon.

“I firmly believe it will be safe,” Aziraphale said as if reading his thoughts. “We managed to exchange bodies, and we were fine. But if you don’t wish to take the risk, I’ll understand.”

Somewhere deep within, Crowley felt a strong assurance that everything would be all right, that any love they could wish to express would be granted them. He sat up, and interlaced their fingers. “Stand with me, Angel.”

He pulled Aziraphale up as he rose, and they stood to face each other.

They unfurled their wings at the same time.

“Now?” Crowley asked as a shiver of excitation ran down his spine.

Aziraphale nodded. “I’m ready.”

They touched their joined hands to each other’s faces, then they touched foreheads. Then they took one long simultaneous breath as they drew their wings around each other, enveloped in love.

And finally, they broke the bonds of flesh and blood and breath altogether as they slowly flowed into one another, as their essences merged.

The world fell away. Nothing existed except their two souls coalesced one to the other. Their spirits surged together and engulfed each other as two became one, as love entwined them, holding them as one soul, one mind, one heart.

There was but one whole then, which knew neither angel nor demon, yet knew them both united. 

Warmth and light and an ethereal love unknown on Earth filled the space where two solitary beings were remade as one, as everything that had once been broken was forged anew. And in that sublime exchange, everything was known, every pain was remedied, every need was fulfilled, and every mystery was answered.

And after a time that may have been mere minutes, or may have been an eternity, the spirits of two beings drew apart and returned into their corporeal forms, still standing where they had been, still the same yet forever altered.

Crowley had, in that merging, soared to Heaven and returned, and he had not gone alone.

He slowly shut his wings away. He held Aziraphale’s hands, watching silently as his wings furled into his back. “Hello, Angel,” he whispered as if meeting him for the first time – which, in a way, he was.

Aziraphale gazed at him with something far beyond a beatific smile. He stepped in closer, let go his hands, and pulled him into an embrace. “My dear Crowley.” Then he kissed him again, and though they had just been together in the most loving union possible, this kiss felt more heavenly than any other known.

As if it were the first kiss in all of creation.

Crowley felt a faint after-effect of their merging as they kissed, as if their true essences still touched each other. As if they were not truly separate beings any longer. 

And when they broke the kiss, he felt it still – a kind of _belonging_ to his Angel – the other half of his soul.

“Thank you,” he said, “for bringing me closer to heaven.”

Aziraphale glanced upwards. “It’s a fine place to be, when it’s filled with only love.”

They stayed there a while, embraced, unaware of time passing, until enough time did pass – until they had all the time they needed.

Then they packed up their belongings and walked back down the trail, taking it slowly.

As they neared the bottom, Aziraphale said, “You know, I _was_ just a little bit worried that someone would come up there while we were…well, that we might be interrupted. Thank goodness that didn’t happen.”

Crowley smiled as they approached a prominent sign at the trailhead that had not been there when they went up. “You can thank me instead.”

“Oh?” Aziraphale followed his gaze. “ _Oh_. You didn’t!”

“I did.”

The sign read, WARNING: DANGEROUS SNAKE AHEAD.

Aziraphale smiled and shook his head. “My dear, you are far from dangerous.”

Crowley shrugged. “ _They_ didn’t need to know that.” With a snap of his fingers, the sign vanished. “Any time you want to drag me on a hike, let me know and I’ll put it back up.”

“That,” Aziraphale replied with a twinkle in his eyes, “sounds absolutely _lovely_.”

He dashed off down the footpath towards their cottage, and Crowley pretended to chase him all the way home.


End file.
